The recent development of short wavelength lasers in the soft (about 50 to 100 eV) x-ray regime (about 124 .ANG. to 248.ANG.) has brought a need for time-resolved and time-gated detectors which are both efficient and have good spatial resolution. Applications for such detectors include time-gated spectrometers and cameras for the soft x-ray laser beam, diagnostics for the plasma amplifiers, and imaging instruments for microscopic and holographic applications.
Presently, gated x-ray detectors are based on microchannel plate technology. The spatial resolution of microchannel plate detectors is limited by fiber diameter to tens of microns, and the temporal resolution is in the vicinity of 100-200 psec (M.J. Eckart, R. L. Hanks, J. D. Kilkenny, R. Pasha, J. D. Wiedwald and J. D. Hares, "Large-Area 200-ps Gated Microchannel Plate Detector", Rev. Sci. Instrum., 57, 1986). Microchannel plate detectors have efficiencies of 5-15% in the soft x-ray regime depending upon the wavelength of the incident photons and the angle of incidence (G. W. Fraser, "The Soft X-ray Quantum Detection Efficiency of Microchannel Plates", Nuclear Instruments and Methods, 195, pp. 523-538, 1982; J. L. Wisa, "Microchannel Plate Detectors", Nuclear Instruments and Methods, 162, pp. 587-601, 1979).